Norwell voters approve $15.4 million library project

Norwell voters approved a special Town Election ballot question Saturday that will pave the way for a new library.

The measure, which allows for a 20-year debt exclusion of Proposition 2-1/2 to pay the town’s share of the $15.4 million project, passed 1,118 to 345 during the special Town Election.

The town will be responsible for approximately $8.6 million of the $15.4 million project. Norwell was awarded a $6.4 million grant in July from the Massachusetts Public Library Construction Program.

The first step for approving the project took place Monday during a special Town Meeting, where the project was approved in a landslide by a vote of 506-61.

The proposed library, designed by Boston architect Stephen Hale, will almost triple the square footage of the current library to 22,300 square foot, and include a teen area, a digital lab, a local history room, a 3,000-square-foot children’s room, four private study rooms, a three-sided patio and a new meeting room with seating for up to 120 people.

Library Director Judy McConarty McConarty says the current library, built in 1974 and roughly 8,500 square feet, has outgrown its space. Since the building opened more than 40 years ago, the book collection has grown 240 percent and program attendance has increased from 1,700 people per year to 6,000. Last year, there were 70,000 visits to the library.

The debt exclusion will add about $153 annually to the property tax bill of a home assessed at $600,000 over the 20-year bond.